cathyre

My wonderful husband has suprised me with two Airline tickets to the USA so
I can go to the Quilt Festival in Oct , (We are coming from the West Coast of Australia) ,
when I looked up things about the quilt show it is telling me to buy entry tickets now.
Those of you wonderful quilters that have been to this Quilt Show before do you ,think
this is the best to do before or on the day? I am sooooo excited.

patricej

if there are classes you want to take that will happen before the show opens, go for it.
i guess you could take in the whole show in one day, but you wouldn't be able to stop to focus on very much.
to really wander, gaze and be dazzled by the quilts takes the better part of one day.
if you want to take advantage of the "shoportunities" allow at least another whole day.

QuiltBaer

If you can buy tickets online ahead of time, I would. There will be lots of people. Everywhere. I was there for 3 days. I looked at vendors for 2 days and quilts for one day. You will have a wonderful time. And get your hotel rooms now!

LadyAg

You have an amazing husband! I would recommend purchasing your tickets ahead of time, as the ticket lines can be busy at the show itself. If you attend any classes, I believe admission may be included for that day.

You definitely need to plan one full day to look at all the amazing quilts, because they are all wonderful. Then there's the shopping! So many of the top quilting products are there with products and demos! Easily another 1/2 day plus!

I hope you have a great time!

toverly

I would have them in hand just for ease of entry. You will want to spend several days there for the vendors alone. I think there are over 1,000 or that is the way it feels. If you see something you like, buy it. It's almost impossible to return to the same vendor. I spent many hours trying to backtrack to find that one thing I wanted. Just remember to tell your credit card company that you will be at a show. Several of our members had their credit cards flagged till they contacted the company. When making purchases, the vendors are from all over so it looks like you are in California, then Minnesota, and so forth withing a few short minutes. Enjoy!

dunster

I've only been once. I attended all 4 days and still didn't see everything. I do recommend buying your ticket in advance. Have a great time.

Jordan

Congratulations!! You have a wonderful husband to do this for you. My dh made arrangements with motel room and vacation time to take me to the Sisters, Oregon quilt show. It was amazing and loved every minute. So happy for you and go and enjoy. I can't help you with the issue of getting tickets ahead of time but I have been to the Road to California quilt show and I would suggest that you try and reserve a motel room as soon as you can.

Sheri.a

Yeah!!! I hope you have a wonderful time. About the tickets:
- if you sign up for any class, you will be required to purchase the tickets for the full function (I think it's $50 this year) and you pay for them when you pay for the class. That's ok - well worth it.
- Yes! purchase them ahead of your visit since every minute counts when you are at the festival -- so much to see!
- If you purchase the Preview night, you will get in at 7 PM. If you are enrolled in a class, preview night starts at 5 PM.

Peckish

The bummer part about taking classes is you have to make your flight and hotel arrangements way ahead of when they actually release the list of classes and teachers. They currently have a list of the teachers who will be teaching this October, but they don't have a list of the actual classes.

If you decide not to take any classes, then just purchase your tickets, and yes I recommend not purchasing at the door.

The first couple of years we went, we would spend a couple hours at the show, then we'd walk over to the vendors and spend a couple hours there. Your brain just goes on overload if you look at the quilts all day long. If you see something you like in the vendor area, but aren't quite sure you're willing to buy, write down the booth number and the item, so you could return later to purchase it. I did this one year when my fun money budget was very tight and I needed to think about whether I really wanted a particular item.

Make sure to build in break times, so you can sit down and relax. You'll last a lot longer. I used to bring my Kindle and read for about half an hour, then go back to the show.

csstexas

The class information is available online now. Go to quilts.com, then on the left Festival Info—Quilt Festival Houston. Then explore the three links under Class Info—especially Class information and Classes. There is a lot of information to wade through. Sheri.a was explaining to you that if you are going to take any classes or attend special events or lectures or luncheons, or samplers you will need to enroll. That will be available online in mid-July. When you enroll and pay the required registration fee it will include admission to the entire show. Apparently this year we will print our badges at kiosks at check in. This is a new process this year. The badge will allow you in and out of the show as much as you want so do Not also purchase show tickets. Of course you do not have to enroll in classes or any of the rest. But chances are that you might want to participate in some of those activities. Without enrollment you would need a ticket for admission to the show. International Quilt Festival in Houston is a wonderful show. I live a couple of hours away and am able to stay with my daughter and son-in-law for that whole week. I look forward to it from one year to the next! I’m so glad you are able to join us this year! Let us know if we can help with any questions.